Chapter 53: Depth Dwellers
How many A rankers are in Rosary? Are they strong enough to wipe out millions of Crawlers?
Of course they are.
"A rankers are capable of destroying entire continents. If our world wasn't able to regenerate then it would've been destroyed a long time ago."
Due to laws unknown, our world can take quite the beating. The problem is that it doesn't happen overnight. Entire continents would take thousands of years to go back to normal, and the reason why Crawlers are hated so much is because they take it upon themselves to destroy all of those precious resources.
Crawlers' nests are larger than entire cities, and they can be scattered throughout the continent. Worst part about them is that they take the most valuable resource deposits. Any kind of exotic material that gives off energy is usually devoured over night.
No sane person would ever allow this to happen.
"So how much are these healers going to be?"
Makoto didn't look very happy when he spoke up, "A single healer is worth as much as an entire mercenary company… so about 100-200 guys."
Holy crap.
"You can always go to the temple. Although they rarely help, and when they do you better hope you have money."
I wanted to facepalm when I heard that. How can they be so greedy? Don't they need to worry about population growth?
I couldn't help but ask the obvious question, "How toxic is Rosary?"
Makoto just shrugged, "Crawlers give off an incredible amount of miasma. What's worse is that Rosary was an extremely high populated region. The more a Crawler eats the more they can breed. So from what I've heard… The entire continent is scared black. Leaving barely any non mutated plant life behind."
Welp. That's great.
"Don't worry kid. Once you've officially become a village chief most of your worries will go away."
I felt a bit reluctant about that. Honestly I'm not that interested in becoming royalty or anything like that.
"I'd rather become a business tycoon, and let my Demon Shop do all the work."
This time both Alora and Makoto just sighed.
"If you say so kid, but there's not much of a difference between business and politics. You might as well start at least one village and see what you can do from there. After all, the most loyal employees are the ones who don't want to be kicked out of their own home. Isn't that great?!"
He has a point, still I'd rather not take things too far. The consequences of losing my village are pretty bad.
Although the best companies are the ones with the most loyal employees…
"I'll think about it."
In the meantime I look at my status window to take a look at my skills.
{Jessup Grove
Level: 93
Race: High Human Variant
Super: mage
Class: Merchant
Title: [Village Chief] [Wannabe Heart breaker] [Potential Cult Leader] [Pilfers Apostle] [Useless Merchant] [Prince of Grove]
Unique Skill: Demon shop
Gifted skills: [Plot of land], [King's Company], [Bestowal (Inert)] [Small lvl Increase] [Small Wisdom Increase]
Normal skill: [Hide status lvl 4], [Stealth lvl 1] [love making lvl 1] [Swordsmanship lvl 2] [Slash lvl 2] [Jab lvl1] [Swift strike lvl 3] [Brawler lvl 2] [Punch lvl 1] [Guard lvl 5]
True skill: [Sleep lvl 7], [Bolster lvl 6], [Paralysis lvl 3], [Charm lvl 4] [Pleasure bestowel lvl2] [Regeneration lvl 6] [Pain relief lvl5] [Fear lvl1] [Energy Absorption lvl 4]
Spells: [Amplify] [Mana Blast] [Levitation] [Magic Absorption]
Racial talent: [%15 Energy Absorption (Stacks With Skills)]
Divine Blessings: [Pilfer's Blessing Grants Increases compatibility with demon kin and better luck at finding valuable loot (Stolen or not)]
Equipment:
Ember core [Allows you to merge items, Can comprehend, alter, or enhance magic engravings. Can combine eggs, plants, bugs with similar species to enhance. Decreases 20 years of your life.]
Divine Bracelet [Can release large amounts of psionic energy. This energy can drown others in a feeling of absolute fear and terror. Increases your lifespan by 40 years.]
Black and gold robe [Robes fit for a Prince too cheap to buy nicer fabrics.]
Magic Whistle [The whistle has a spell called Amplify imbued into it. This spell allows you to amplify any status ailment related spells or skills.]
Katana [The name of this sword is called Minikui Ken. Which roughly translates to Ugly Sword. This sword can devour and store souls. However, once stored you can not take them back until you offer better souls. Soul energy can be used to attack the souls of your enemy regardless of armor. Attack strength is based on the strength of the devoured soul.] }
After browsing my status I was left in pure bafflement!
"My status window did NOT look like this last time. It is way more detailed. It's almost like the one who wrote this forgot what it originally looked like so they added new stuff to make it cleaner!"
(What are you talking about kid? I just didn't like the look of it. So I cleaned it up and improved your blessing. I've finally managed to eat that puny dark god. So I'm a little stronger. I could do more if you start spreading my name around. Make me popular, kid.)
What the heck? Well I hope you keep this in your notes. I'd rather you not forget, lest I end up weaker or something. Still my status is looking good. I'm not strong, but I'm not weak either. So that's good.
I should really begin training in full. I've been given so many opportunities yet this is the best I can do? I clearly have zero talent for the martial arts, and even my spells are severely lacking. Despite the fact I focus on status ailments, those are mostly there to let me know what my compatibility is for any related spells. My main fighting style has always been about spreading cursed energy through my surroundings.
This wasn't good enough for higher level enemies.
After a few minutes of walking I finally reach the cabin where I can rest and think things over.
"This is a serious issue."
After sitting down on my bed I decided to look through Lord Dredans collection and library. For obvious reasons this is restricted for my hands only. Only me and my grandfather are allowed to trade with gods. Although with his hoarding obsession he doesn't do much trading.
So instead I opened up his library to take a look.
{WELCOME BACK TO LORD DREDANS SHOPPING EMPORIUM! WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU TODAY MR. JESSUP?}
"Hello Jasmine. Good to hear from you again. I was hoping to do some shopping for magic spells. Preferably something related to status ailments."
(Ugh I hate this thing. It's my skill and this Dredan guy has to show off and make his own talking AI shopkeeper. That voice is so creepy.)
That's right. Jasmine here is a completely autonomous person. Her sole purpose is to either tell me 'No, you can not have that' or 'You can not afford this.'
{MY APOLOGIES MR. JESSUP. WE DO NOT YET HAVE ANY NEW SPELLS DEDICATED TOWARDS STATUS AILMENTS.}
That's not surprising. Lord Dredan might be a death god but he isn't a malicious one. Most of his spells are related to exorcism. Obviously I could try branching out towards death magic, but I already have a good thing going here.
"What do you have then?"
{WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING SKILLS:
[PEACE LVL 1] GRANTS A FEELING OF PEACE AND TRANQUILITY. HIGHLY COMPATIBLE TOWARDS NATURE SPIRITS.
[PAIN RELIEF LVL 6] HELPS RELIEVE THE PAIN IN THE SURROUNDING AREA.
[PLEASURE BESTOWEL LVL3] GRANTS A FEELING OF ECSTASY UPON YOUR ENEMIES SO YOU CAN WATCH THEM ROLL AROUND IN THEIR OWN FLUIDS.
NOW MOVING ONTO SPELLS:
[FEELING OF WARMTH] MAKES YOU FEEL AT HOME. THIS CAUSES YOUR ENEMIES TO FEEL CALM AND HAPPY. YOUR ENEMIES WILL BRIEFLY FALL INTO A DAYDREAM.
REMARK: YOU SHOULD REST. I WILL WAKE YOU LATER.
[PAIN KILLER] YOUR ALLIES CAN FIGHT LONGER. CAST THIS SPELL IN YOUR SURROUNDINGS AND YOU CAN TRANSFER ALL OF THE PAIN OF YOURSELF AND YOUR ALLIES ONTO YOUR ENEMIES.
REMARK: REST YOUR HEAD MY SON. THIS WILL ONLY HURT FOR A SECOND.
[HALLUCINATION] DOES THIS TRULY NEED A DESCRIPTION? YOU'LL BE SEEING FLYING COWS AND PEOPLE WITH A MILLION EYES IN NO TIME.
DISCLAIMER: SLIGHT CHANCE OF PEERING INTO THE FUTURE.
THESE ARE ALL YOUR OPTIONS MR. JESSUP.}
All I could do was sigh. Some of these were really good. Others… not so much. Some of them I already had. What am I even supposed to do with the [Feeling of Warmth]?
That might be handy for pleasure outings, like trade deals or something. Or I can take them to a brothel and use [Pleasure Bestowel] on the whole building.
Out of all of them, [Pain Killer] is the most valuable but also the most risky. There's a reason pain exists. If everyone is high on pleasure then nobody will notice when or how they drop dead when it was easily fixable.
"Not that it matters. All of these spells are way too expensive. Heck even the skills I already own are expensive."
(Why don't you look at the item selection?)
The item selection? That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?!
"Jasmine, does Lord Dredan have any items that can bestow spells or skills?"
After waiting for a few minutes the AI finally spoke up in a clear soft robotic voice.
{CONFIRMED. THERE ARE TWO ITEMS THAT CAN HELP GRANT YOU STATUS AILMENT RELATED ABILITIES.
THEY ARE THE FOLLOWING:
[SEED OF THE SEED] A SEED FROM THE BIRTHING TREE. THE BIRTHING TREE CAN BE FOUND ON AN ALIEN PLANT IN ANOTHER TIME AND ANOTHER DIMENSION. THIS TREES ONLY PURPOSE WAS TO GIVE BIRTH TO WOMEN. THE WOMEN OF THIS WORLD HAVE NEVER MET A MAN AS THEIR ANCESTORS RELEASED A PLAGUE TO ERADICATE THEM ALL. AS A FINAL ACT THE MEN MADE IT SO THAT WOMEN BORN FROM THE BIRTHING TREE CAN NO LONGER FEEL ANYTHING UNLESS THEY ARE TOUCHED BY A MAN.
DISCLAIMER: THIS SEED IS HIGHLY POISONOUS.
SIDE EFFECTS INCLUDE: INCREASED LUST, IRRITABLE BOWEL MOVEMENT, VOMITING AND BLOOD IN STOOL
[BOOK OF NIGHTMARES] CONTAINED WITHIN THIS BOOK IS THE SOUL OF A C RANK GOBLIN SORCERER WHO TRIED TO STEAL THE KINGS' SECRETS. READING THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO PEER INTO THE HISTORY OF ORGO THE POOP EATER!
READ THIS AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
END OF SELECTIONS.}
Wow… this was really disturbing.